Green Party picks Robert Habeck  to replace Olaf Scholz as Chancellor

By Martina Herzog and Anne-Béatrice Clasmann, dpa

 

HESSE  – Germany’s Green Party delegates approved Economy Minister Robert Habeck as their chancellor candidate for the upcoming elections at the party’s conference on Sunday. Habeck is to lead the election campaign alongside Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

“We will take on the election!” Habeck declared in his acceptance speech. Habeck, who is also vice chancellor in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, was widely expected to be the party’s candidate, after announcing his plans to run last week.

While he needed to secure the support of delegates at the conference, he was not competing against other candidates for votes. Instead, delegates voted on an urgent motion, submitted by the party’s executive board, which referred to Habeck as the “candidate for the people of Germany.”

Habeck was approved by 96.48% of the delegates, with just 20 (2.6%) voting against him and seven (0.9%) abstaining.

 

Baerbock pledges support

Shortly before his nomination, Baerbock praised Habeck as “super pragmatic,” saying he had steered Germany through times of crisis as economy minister and freed the country from its dependency on Russia as an energy supplier.

“No one can steer the ship in a storm like Robert Habeck and at the same time set the sails properly when the wind is favourable,” Baerbock said.

At the party conference in the western German city of Wiesbaden, Habeck said he was seeking delegates’ trust to continue to carry the party forward: “And if it carries us very far, then also into the Chancellery,” he added.

He expressly thanked Baerbock, with whom he once shared the party leadership: “It is a great privilege to know that you are in front of me, next to me and behind me.”

Germany is gearing up for early elections, expected in February, following the collapse of the government coalition this month. Germany’s pro-business Free Democrats withdrew from the coalition after Scholz dismissed party leader Christian Lindner from his post as finance minister following months of wrangling over the 2025 budget.

 

Poor poll ratings for the Greens

Habeck faces a tough election campaign, with the Greens currently languishing on around 11-12% in the polls.

In his hour-long acceptance speech after his nomination, Habeck took stock of his time in government, admitting that an unpopular green energy act that he spearheaded last year is hanging over the election campaign “like the sword of Damocles.”

He said he wants the party to focus on the low unemployment rate among mothers and the restrictive rules for asylum seekers who want to work but cannot. He also spoke of reforming Germany’s debt rules and promised affordable electricity prices.

The Green Party plans to adopt its election manifesto at another party conference on January 26.